CHRIS LAKEY Peter Grant has joined the growing list of members of the Kyle Lafferty fan club after seeing the much-vaunted young striker on a scouting mission.

CHRIS LAKEY

Peter Grant has joined the growing list of members of the Kyle Lafferty fan club after seeing the much-vaunted young striker on a scouting mission.

The City boss was at the Madejski Stadium last week to see Reading edge Lafferty and Co out of the FA Cup and was impressed by the 19-year-old's 20-minute contribution as a sub.

“He's a terrific player,” said Grant. “I went to watch Burnley v Reading last week and I thought he made a big difference when he went on.

“He is a young boy, enthusiastic, got good talent, mobile, good feet. He has the combination of everything so I am not surprised that people are interested in him.”

But while Burnley issue hands off warnings to suitors, including Celtic, Grant says City must prove that it is the men in white today who will be the ones to watch at Turf Moor.

“We know we have good players in our team and hopefully they are more worried about our players than we are about them,” he said. “But we have got to prove it. The one thing they are is dogged - they will keep going, they make it difficult for you to play against them, which is something you have to do in the Championship.

“It is alright having the flair but if you don't have the heart for a battle and to understand how you win games of football, you will struggle. That's the big question mark hanging over us at times.”

Doggedness is an attribute that Grant wants to see in his own side as they seek to end a slide down the table which has brought the relegation debate to the table this week, pushing play-off talk firmly into the background.

“I have said it since I came here - there is an imbalance to the group,” added Grant. “The imbalance can be that, yes, we go and attack teams, we get in a lot of good areas of the field and don't take the chances and when the opposition have the ball we seem very, very easy to get through.

“And if you are going to be successful you have to have the balance going both ways. I have seen it bit too often here - “I would like to play against Norwich because they allow you to play” - and that is something I have been trying to make sure doesn't happen here.

“We haven't got that balance yet. Some games we have it, in the next game it is not there and to me that side of it should be the easiest. Creating chances should be more difficult. Most definitely we have to be more dogged, also we have to be more ruthless going the other way.

“I will sacrifice other things happening in the game as long as we are creating chances further up the field, but I won't sacrifice it if we are no doing that. It is a fine line the boys have to try and get over.”